Cannonball

Posted on August 23rd, 2017

The Hotel de Sens in the 4eme arrondissement is one Paris’ few remaining medieval civil buildings. It was built by the Archbishop of Sens, Tristan de Salazar, between 1475 and 1519. The archbishops departed the building in 1622, after which it was rented out until the revolution, when it was seized as a national asset and sold privately. The Hotel was finally repurchased in 1911 by the City of Paris, which commenced restoration lasting 32 years. It is now a library of decorative arts.
The building has one remarkable feature. In July 1830 there was a three day citizens insurrection against King Charles X. The revolutionaries surrounded the Hotel de Ville district, building barricades and firing cannons into the old city. One of those cannonballs hit the Hotel de Sens and today remains firmly lodged high on the eastern wall.